Metals Tech

To Ilan Mandel, a Cornell robotics researcher and builder, the math didn’t add up. How could a new, off-the-shelf hoverboard cost less than the parts that compose it? “This becomes an ambient frustration as a designer—the incredible cheapness of products that exist in the world, and the incredible expenses for prototyping or building anything from […]

Hydrogen is viewed as a promising alternative to fossil fuel, but the methods used to make it either generate too much carbon dioxide or are too expensive. Rice University researchers have found a way to harvest hydrogen from plastic waste using a low-emissions method that could more than pay for itself. “In this work, we […]

Salt River Project (SRP), a not-for-profit energy company serving more than 1.1 million people in Arizona, has announced plans with German battery manufacturer CMBlu for a pilot project to deploy long-duration energy storage (LDES). The 5 MW, 10-hour-duration Desert Blume project will use CMBlu’s non-lithium technology. CMBlue will build, own and operate the batteries on […]

Stellantis is aiming to halve the battery weight in its future EVs to make them comparable with gas-powered cars, as per a new report. To attain its objective, the group is working with several battery technology companies, exploring suitable chemistries. At the inauguration of its new Mirafiori Battery Technology Center in Turin, Italy, the group’s […]

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. is considering an expansion of its production in the US in a bid to triple sales from energy storage systems, according to a senior executive. LG is reviewing further investment in the US, after unveiling a $2.3 billion spending plan in March to produce grid-scale batteries for […]

The road from breakthrough in the lab to practical technology can be a long and bumpy one. The lithium-sulfur battery is an example. It has notable advantages over current lithium-ion batteries powering vehicles. But it has yet to dent the market despite intense development over many years. That situation could change in the future, thanks […]

Tens of thousands of small-scale hydro energy storage sites could be built from Australia’s farm dams, supporting the uptake of reliable, low-carbon power systems in rural communities, new UNSW-Sydney-led research suggests. The study, published today (Sept. 7) in Applied Energy, finds agricultural reservoirs, like those used for solar-power irrigation, could be connected to form micro-pumped hydro energy storage systems—household-size versions […]

Dampening demand for electric vehicles (EV) has led to a 10% drop in prices of batteries used for EVs and energy storage in August, with a further fall expected through the year, market research firm TrendForce said on Thursday. A slide in prices of EV batteries could help the industry cushion profits from a price […]

Daimler, Cummins, and PACCAR are forming a joint venture to manufacture battery cells in the US for commercial electric trucks. The joint venture – which consists of Accelera, the zero-emissions business unit of Cummins; Daimler Trucks & Buses; and large commercial truck maker PACCAR – will build battery cells for commercial electric trucks. Each company […]

Jimmy Jiang envisions a future where every house is powered by renewable energy stored in batteries—perhaps even those he and his students are designing today. In his chemistry lab, Jiang and his students at the University of Cincinnati have created a new battery that could have profound implications for the large-scale energy storage needed by wind and solar farms. Innovations such […]